In order to simplify the description, the rest of the document will simply describe the specific case where the radio communication device is a GSM radio communication terminal with a SIM card. A person skilled in the art may extend this technique quite simply to any other type of radio communication terminal.
Usually, a GSM radio communication terminal cannot access the services of the GSM network without a customised SIM card (which is to say a SIM card with activated customisation data). Indeed, a SIM card is a module comprising all of the data concerning the subscriber, which is to say an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) identity number, a Ki authentication key, as well as associated authentication algorithms of the subscriber to the GSM network.
When customising radio communication terminals, certain of the following objectives are reconciled if possible:                the simplicity of the operations to activate the customisation, wherein the user must be able to carry out these operations with a limited number of operations, and each of these operations must be as easy as possible;        security of the customisation data;        simple and cheap to implement.1. Customisation in a M2M Application        
The disadvantages of the prior art will be discussed below via the specific case wherein a GSM radio communication terminal is to be customised that is on-board a remote data-measuring appliance, for example a water meter.
The current customisation technique consists, for a user, in choosing a PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network), buying a customised SIM card from one of the outlets of the selected operator, then inserting the customised SIM card into a radio communication terminal. In this way, the radio communication terminal is customised and can access the PLMN services of the selected operator.
The inventors have observed that the above-mentioned current technique has a certain number of disadvantages in certain situations, especially in the context of a M2M type point to point mode application.
The efficiency of this known technique is limited by the fact that the radio communication terminal, once customised, does not always use the best radio resources (also called hereunder carriers or beacon signals) that are available where it is located.
Indeed, the user chooses an operator without precisely knowing the quality of the network (PLMN) of this operator at the location where the terminal will subsequently be used.
In the worst case, the radio communication terminal, which has already customised by a user to work with a given operator, may even be placed in a geographical cell that is not covered by this selected operator.
Another disadvantage of this known technique lies in the fact that it does not permit a company that wishes to install millions of terminals (for example embedded in water meters) to optimise the choice of the operator (i.e. the network) for each terminal.
2. Customisation as Part of Twin SIM Card Management
The disadvantages of the prior art will now be discussed using the specific case of dual SIM cards.
By dual SIM cards, it is meant in this description SIM cards that each have distinct customisation data (IMSI number, Ki key) but which are jointly managed by the radio communication network operator. For example, dual SIM cards operate with the same MSISDN (Mobile Station ISD Number) and the same subscription.
Currently, an increasing number of users have several radio communication terminals.
To ensure optimal accessibility, mobile telephone operators offer users a set of two SIM cards, called dual SIM cards.
Each of the dual SIM cards is designed to be inserted into a separate terminal.
Consequently, the user may have a single call number, a single voice mail and a single subscription for both terminals. Usually, calls arrive first to one of the two terminals and are transferred to the other terminal if there is no answer. The correspondence between the number called and one or the other of the SIM cards (which is to say between one or the other of the ISMI associated to these SIM cards) is made at network level, in particular by the HLR (Home Location register) server.
By way of example, it is supposed that the user inserts a first dual SIM card into its own radio communication terminal and wishes to use a radio communication terminal on-board a rental car. With the current technique mentioned above, the user must insert a second dual SIM card in the terminal of the rental car.
The inventors have observed that the current technique has a certain number of disadvantages in certain situations, especially in the above context (dual SIM cards).
Indeed, the ergonomics of this known technique are limited by the fact that user, who wishes to activate and use the terminal of the rental car quickly, must first of all find the second dual SIM card (in the user's pocket, wallet, briefcase, etc.), access the terminal of the car (for example in the boot or trunk), remove the protective cover of this terminal to access the SIM card holder, insert the second dual SIM card in this holder and the fit the cover again.
In certain cases, some users return their rental car and forget or do not have time to take out their second dual SIM card.
Sometimes, users who are not familiar with mobile telephones do not know where or in which direction the second dual SIM card is to be inserted, and they may damage the terminal of the rental car.
Furthermore, most car manufacturers henceforth prefer radio communication means to be completely integrated (for example in the dashboard of the vehicle), for ergonomic and cosmetic reasons, as well as to protect against theft. The access to the SIM card holder thus becomes a problem.
There is consequently a need to optimise the use of two dual SIM cards by a user in two distinct radio communication terminals, especially in the case where the user wishes to use successively at least one of these dual SIM cards with different terminals (for example in terminals in different rental cars).